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AMDSB focuses on functional French

The Avon Maitland District School Board, along with all boards in the province, are changing the way French is taught in the classroom.

Laurie Long, Junior Intermediate Program Coordinator, told the board of trustees at their Oct. 23 meeting that the provincial French curriculum may soon be changing and would focus on oral communication. She explained in 2005 the federal and provincial governments saw a problem with French in Canada, and changes needed to be made.

“We are a bilingual country and our students are not staying in French all the way through,” she said. “They said we have to do something to keep kids engaged and involved and wanting to graduate with French credits.”

The governments came up with a bilateral agreement and created additional funding in the Official Language Education fund, which every board in Ontario receives, to direct toward increasing student engagement in French as a second language program and increase student retention and participation.

“They want to revitalize the immersion program and improve the core French program,” said Long. “French must be appealing and engaging so students will want to continue with French language courses.”

From the federal and provincial goals came the Common European Framework of Reference, which is focused on functional and authentic French communication.

“They are not so worried about the grammar or punctuation, written exams or tests or anything many adults remember from their core French experience. What the Common European Framework of Reference is saying is, if you were in Quebec or Paris, would you be able to get around okay, ask for directions, order from a menu, get help?,” she said.

“It is far more valuable for students to be able to speak and understand the language than get a 95 per cent because they are good at the grammar,” she added. “We need to switch our focus.”

She said to help AMDSB French teachers teach functional French, each teacher was given an iPod to aid with oral instruction.

Long said that is going to take a curriculum change to give oral instruction the focus. The French curriculum has not been updated since 1998 for core and 2001 for immersion. In 2008, the AMDSB became one of seven boards to introduce the CEFR as part of French instruction. Now all 60 boards in the province are teaching toward the model.

“Our board has been a mentor to other boards in the province in terms of French language instruction, in the last four years for sure,” said Long.

For the past two years, the AMDSB has been offering students DELF (Diplôme d'études en langue française) testing. French Immersion and Core French students at Stratford Central High School and Listowel District Secondary School have successfully challenged the DELF and certificates. In the first year, three grade 12 immersion students were successful, while this year, 12 students between Grade 10 and 12 core and immersion French were successful in the level they challenged.

The DELF is an international test for anyone who is learning French as a second language.

“By offering the DELF we are giving our students additional incentive to continue with French instruction,” said Long.

The AMDSB has 19 DELF correcteurs (teachers who evaluate the students who challenge the test) and one DELF formateur (person who trains and certifies the correcteur). AMDSB is only one of four boards to offer the DELF in Ontario.

The AMDSB offers both core and immersion French language instruction. Core French is mandatory for students in Grades 4-9, with all students requiring to complete 600 hours of instruction over all years. French Immersion is offered Grades 1 through 12. In the elementary level students receive 50 per cent English and 50 per cent French instruction, with 3,800 hours needed to be completed by Grade 8. In high school students are required to have 10 French immersion credits to graduate with an immersion certificate.

“We are excited about where French language instruction is headed in our schools,” said Director of Education Ted Doherty.